Sick anglefish

Question
Hi,

I have two angel fish that I purchased at the same time. One is fine and growing however the other is off its food and has shrunk in size or not growing. He was in a tank with other fish and after getting ill would look at food but not eat. He is swimming ok but for a long time has a red blemish under the skin on his tight hand side where his side fin joins his body. Sometimes it appears larger and other times smaller.

I have removed him to a separate tank and have used salt, melafix, primafix and recently used bactonex over the past 5 days. He is currently in a tank with another angel fish and appears to be happier than by himself. He is still off his food, not growing and the redness has become a little smaller however I have been treating him for weeks and the redness is not going away. Have you any suggestions.

Answer
Hi Chris,
I'm sorry to hear about the Angelfish...

If you could send me a picture of the poor fella I'd appreciate it. You can send it here- nature_girl2u@hotmail.com

I'm not too sure about the redness. It may not be anything serious and it could just be a coloration. I probably wouldn't treat him for anything just yet. Give him a break from medications. I would focus on making sure he gets a quality diet and plenty of good sized water changes. He may be a very timid individual or he may just be weak and not able to compete the other fish to get enough food.  I've had this happen plenty of times with angels. Usually the fish is able to catch up in size if he gets enough quality food and always has clean water and low nitrates.

Have you tried him on frozen foods to try to spark his interest in food again? Frozen worms of any kind, brine shrimp, bits of krill  or other shrimp might tempt him.

Make sure he doesn't have internal parasites. His symptoms could indicate internal parasites but not always. The usual signs are the fish may eat but continue to lose weight. Or the fish may not eat at all and be very pale and skinny and have little interest in doing anything but staying in a corner. Stringy pale poo is also a symptom. Treatment is difficult but I've been able to get through it before.

I really hope this helps!
Best wishes,
Karen~